Improvement in invalid-bedsteads



J. GOODWIN. Invalid Bedstead.

No'. 204,0 26. .Patented'May 21,1878. I

N.FETEHS. PMD'l'O-LITHOGRAFNEF. WASHINGTON. [JV 0.

elevation, partly in section;

cally by said rib UNITED STAT Es PATENT JAMEs eoonvvrn or MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA. l,

IMPROVEMENT IN INVALID-BE'DSTEADS.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 204,026, dated May 21, 1878; application filed July'24, 1877..

To all whom it may concern:

Montreal, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Invalid-Bedsteads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My present invention is an improvement upon that for which I have received Letters Patent for the United States, dated March 9, 1875, No. 160,667.

My improvements relate to means whereby the stretcher-frame may be elevated at both ends simultaneously, or at the foot only; also to devices for guiding the vertically-adjustahle posts and bracing and strengthening the oedstead-frame; and, lastly, to the construction whereby the stretcher-frame is adapted to retain its position upon the posts, by which it is elevated, andis at the same time made detachable therefrom, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is aside Fig. 2, a plan view. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detail views.

The main frame proved invalid-bedstead may be constructed as shown in my aforesaid patent, or in any approved manner. The stretcher-frame G is supported directly'upon the posts D, being provided with suitable recesses to receive the ends of the latter, and is thus adapted to be readily detached from the posts when not required for use. The posts D have a longitudinal rib, a, on the rear side, which fits in avertical groove, b, formed by the flanges of angular castings E that are secured in the corners of the frame A. The posts are guided vertiand groove, and the corners of the frame A are braced and strengthened by the castings E. The teeth of posts D mesh with the pinions a, mounted on cross-shafts F, which have their bearings in said castings or corner-pieces E. The cross-shafts are rotated for raising or lowering the stretcher-frame O by means of worm-gears and a rod or shaft connecting the cross-shafts and extending lengthwise of the frame A.

The worm-gear is formed by two meshing worm-pinions, one, d, fixed on the cross-shafts and formed in one piece with a spur-pinion, c,

A and legs B of my im and the other, e, fixed on the connecting-shaft F. The worm-gear will lock the stretcherframe, or hold it fixed in any adjustment, by preventing the rotation of the cross-shafts.

It is frequently desirable or necessary to incline the body of the patient reposing on the stretcher, and for this purpose I construct the shaftG in two parts, f g, which may be connected by a sliding sleeve, h, applied to the adjacent polygonal ends of the alignedparts 6]".

The sleeve h serves-as a clutch, and by adjusting it so as to inclose both the aligned ends of parts f g the shaft G is made practically integral, sojthat when it is rotated both cross-shafts F will be rotated also, and both ends of I the stretcher-frame thereby elevated orlowered simultaneously; but when the sleeve h is adjusted in the alternative position, so that the parts 0 g of shaft are not connected by it, the part g may be rotate d separately, so as to operate but one of the cross-shafts F, and

thereby raise or lower the foot, without changing the position of the head of the stretcherframe.

As a substitute for the rack-posts D, I may employ screws or screw-threaded rod, and ad just the same vertically by means of circular rotating nuts, having teeth formed on their periphery for meshing with worm-gears.

The canvas H of the frame 0 is stretched to any required tension by means of rotating bars or rods I, which are arranged alongside the latter, and provided with studs which pass through eyeleted openings in the canvas. The rods I are rotated by a hand-wrench applied totheir squared ends, and are held locked in any adjustment by means of a pawl and ratchet, i.

A table, K, is pivoted to attached to the frame 0, and made adjustable around its pivots by means of slotted cars It and clamp-screws l. The table may thus be placed at any desired inclination to the frame 0, or the patient reposing thereon, to adapt it for use as a. dining, writing, or reading table.

The feature of adjustability is important per se; but it also has a relation to the adjustment of the frames L and M, as well as the adjustment of the foot of the stretcher-flame. The supports for the table pass through keepers attached to the side bars of the frame 0, and

suitable supports.

are clamped by screws. The table may, there.

fore, be adjusted vertically or removed .altogether from the stretcher-frame.

In this instance I arrange the arms N that support the hinged frame L inside the frame 0 in place of eiteriorly thereof, as in may former invention, so that they are not visible when the frame L is lowered.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is-'- V 1. In an invalid-bedstead, the combination of the sliding sleeve, the two-part connectingrod or shaft, the worm-gears, pinions, crossshafts, and adjusting-posts of the stretcherframe, as shown and described, for the purpose of enabling the latter to be adjusted at Witnesses:

SoLoN O. KEMoN, AMos W. HART.

simultaneously at both ends, as. 

